Cheating learner driver, 26, is spared jail after being caught with a Bluetooth device hidden in hair while accomplice listened in and fed her answers during audio theory test
- Lavin Hamasaeed had planned to cheat the test at a centre in Wolverhampton
- The 26-year-old glued a Bluetooth headpiece behind her ear before the test
- She also had a mobile phone she had concealed among her clothing
A learner driver has been spared jail after she tried to cheat the theory test by gluing a Bluetooth device into hair.
Lavin Hamasaeed had planned for a co-conspirator to listen in to oral questions and feed her answers.
But staff at a test centre in Wolverhampton discovered the earpiece which was linked to a hidden mobile phone.
Staff searched the 26-year-old and found the piece glued next to her left ear, which had been hidden by her thick black hair.
Lavin Hamasaeed had planned for a co-conspirator to listen in to oral questions and feed her answers during the theory test
Learners can opt to take the test through headphones, rather than in a written form, if they have a reading difficulty, disability or health condition.
After arriving at the test centre, the mother-of-one signed a document declaring she had no hidden devices before she sat the test on 12 December 2018.
Hamasaeed, who came to the UK from Iraq in 2016 handed in a mobile phone and allowed staff to search her, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
She had a thick black head of hair and when that was checked an ear piece was discovered glued to the locks next to her left ear, revealed Ms Olivia Maginn, prosecuting on behalf of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency.
The defendant then produced another mobile phone that she had concealed among her clothing and was ‘married’ to the Bluetooth device close to her ear.
The set up allowed somebody on the outside to listen to the questions and relay back the correct answers to the person taking the test, the court heard. She was interviewed by investigators on April 16 and immediately admitted making fraudulent use of a phone.
Mr Curtis Myrie, defending, said Hamasaeed came to this country from Iraq in 2016 and was granted a two-year residency which was replaced on expiry by a five-year UK residency.
He said that the defendant was going to college twice a week to improve her English while her husband cared for their two-year-old child. Both are in receipt of Universal Credit.
Hamasaeed from Derbyshire pleaded guilty to using a phone for fraud and was given an 18-week jail sentence suspended for 18 months with 120 hours unpaid work.
Judge Simon Ward told her: ‘You made a very determined attempt to cheat and if you had succeeded and got a driving licence it would have been very valuable to you. People must understand that if they cheat in the driving test they risk going to prison.
‘I am going to suspend your sentence because you have never been in trouble before, are making an effort to become part of the society of this country by learning to speak English and your daughter would suffer if you went into immediate custody.’